Customer Reviews

Toyman

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I have read all and own upto and including the return, but am missing child of earth.

The unknown artist who did the first handful of covers for Arrow publications in the 70's is a true master. Reading the book, you will associate the tension in the cover.... Dumarest in the foreground of the stadium is part of the losing mercenary army, and by losing, is part of what is considered "expendable" or subject to predation. On the back cover, the spoilt rich are using sporting weapons (rifles) to pick off the survivors of the losing force.... but there is one element that can never be underestimated- Earl Dumarest. Like David and Goliath, with a small piece of fabric and a large rock, he has created a weapon, a sling with which to take out the people on the hovering raft.... wow, this picture captures the essense of the Dumarest Saga, truly awesome. If anyone knows this fabulous artist, please let me know.Unfortunately I have read reviews of these facinating artpiece covers by people with less than half the intelligence needed to understand the dynamics which I have tried to give an essence of here. And, in case we forget, this is science fiction.... a place with slow-time for space traveller, where hours blur into seconds, days into hours months into days. Where basic, the protein-laced(using Tubb's language) rich, muscle builder like liquid fuel, is the standard food for the "economy " style traveller. This is a place where we need to learn that in whatever environment, the most dangerous life form in the universe- is man.

Toy, a hard world where genetic experiments are a kind of hobby of the ruler. A mentally warped, ruthless, cruel and very dangerous ruler with massive muscles and a very large ego. But he in turn is strongly influenced by his sister who actually has a number of human experiment "toys" that she occasionally torments for pleasure.

And the fast flowing action sequences blend into each scene..... good material for a fantastic movie in my view. Naturally, they end up getting Dumarest's DNA when he is captured trying to escape from the stadium....which is in turn, another embarassment for the Toyman.

Let the games continue as Dumarest duels for his life against impossible odds with only his instinct and amazingly fast reflexes to rely on.Reflexes inherited from a unique world giving him almost super human powers- a lost world with the strangest of names.... Earth.... Enjoy this adrenaline rush- best of the best.

Dumarest is on the planet of Toy seeking information about Earth. There he gets swept up into a plot to overthrow the Toymaster, who runs the economy as a tyrant. In the end, the Toymaster is overthrown, but all Dumarest gets is the information that Earth is also known as Terra. So his quest continues.

This is an interesting book in that Dumarest is on a planet which is heavily involved in luxury fabric as spun by spiders. However, our hero's interest is in the super computer on the planet. Interesting interactions with the Cyclan; intersting interactions with the masters of the spiders.